Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Death, Be Not Proud

Easter came really early this year, and I'm still reflecting on it. I came across John Donne's poem on the powerlessness of death, and thought it appropriate...

Death, be not proud, though some have called theeMighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrowDie not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,Much pleasure, then from thee much more, must flow,And soonest our best men with thee do go,Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,And poppy, or charms, can make us sleep as well,And better than thy stroke. Why swell'st thou then?One short sleep past, we wake eternally,And Death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die.... John Donne (1573-1631), Divine Poems: Holy Sonnets, no. 17